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Report: 74% of Billionaire Wealth from Rent-Seeking
Topic Started: Apr 5 2016, 07:41 PM (1,316 Views)
Cruzula
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A new report by Dider Jacobs at the Center for Popular Economics offers a breathtaking estimate of how the rich have gotten richer in recent years. According to Jacobs’analysis, 74% of billionaire wealth in America was gained through rent-seeking, or socially useless activity.

There has always been a tension between America’s meritocratic mythology and the blatant evidence of a thoroughly rigged economy. After the 2008 financial crisis where bankers brought the economy to its knees through reckless and criminal behavior only to end up richer after a taxpayer funded bailout, the contradictions between the myth and the reality became harder to ignore.

Even mainstream establishment publications like The New Yorker started asking, “What Good Is Wall Street?” Why is a sector of the economy that creates nothing running the real economy and taking home such a large portion of national income?

What Jacobs reveals is that most of the wealth that has propelled people into the top 1% and beyond was gained not through the creation economic benefit, but through rent-seeking. Economic rents are obtained when someone is able to extract wealth or excessive returns despite no additional contribution to productivity, or what could be called socially useless activity.


Jacobs then identifies the industries in which rent-seeking is most significant: those heavily reliant on the state, like oil, gas and mining, gambling, or forestry, and industries that involve a lot of imperfect information and market failures, like finance, IT, and the music and fashion industry.




https://shadowproof.com/2016/03/27/report-74-of-billionaire-wealth-from-rent-seeking/
"Merkel is a worse Chancellor than Hitler" ~ American Identitarian
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Cruzula
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How strange... Worshippers at the Altar of Ayn Rand (such as Estonianman and PATruth) would have us think that most billionaires contributed more to society and productivity than a lousy peasant could ever dream.
"Merkel is a worse Chancellor than Hitler" ~ American Identitarian
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Cruzula
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Moreover:



Because the rich are getting extremely rich from socially useless activity, taxing them does not threaten economic productivity. The traditional trade-offs between production and taxes on wealth and income is that high taxes hurt productivity and, therefore, ultimately hurt the people redistributive programs are supposed to help. That claim has always been dubious, but based on Jacob’s analysis, the opposite might be true: taxing the 1% will provide revenue for social programs while also leveling out problematic sectors of the economy that provide no real value anyway.
"Merkel is a worse Chancellor than Hitler" ~ American Identitarian
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estonianman
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Gore Vidal
Apr 5 2016, 07:42 PM
How strange... Worshippers at the Altar of Ayn Rand (such as Estonianman and PATruth) would have us think that most billionaires contributed more to society and productivity than a lousy peasant could ever dream.
You work for peasants?
Edited by estonianman, Apr 5 2016, 07:55 PM.
MEEK AND MILD
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clone
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Director @ Center for Advanced Memetic Warfare
Odd from this Gore Vidal character....not one word of the DC teat suckers...

DC Teat SuckersThe D.C. suburbs dominate the list of wealthiest U.S. counties

Liberal selective faux righteous indignation is quite amusing....

Splain me where the DC wealth production comes from....
Only liberals can choose not to go down the road to widespread, systematic violence.
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Cruzula
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clone
Apr 5 2016, 08:01 PM
Odd from this Gore Vidal character....not one word of the DC teat suckers...

DC Teat SuckersThe D.C. suburbs dominate the list of wealthiest U.S. counties

Liberal selective faux righteous indignation is quite amusing....

Splain me where the DC wealth production comes from....
The word is that 76% of Billionaires in the U.S., most of whom do not live in D.C., acquired their wealth via the social parasitism of financial inversions and rent-seeking, instead of through productive, actual innovative enterprises like Ford and Microsoft.
"Merkel is a worse Chancellor than Hitler" ~ American Identitarian
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Cruzula
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clone
Apr 5 2016, 08:01 PM
Odd from this Gore Vidal character....not one word of the DC teat suckers...

DC Teat SuckersThe D.C. suburbs dominate the list of wealthiest U.S. counties

Liberal selective faux righteous indignation is quite amusing....

Splain me where the DC wealth production comes from....
Here's another thing: The Article you cite specifically refers to counties with the highest median incomes.


You don't understand how math works, correct? A Median is NOT a Mean.
Edited by Cruzula, Apr 5 2016, 10:44 PM.
"Merkel is a worse Chancellor than Hitler" ~ American Identitarian
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nNeo

Showing yet again why "trickle down" doesn't work.
“Strong people don’t need strong leaders.”
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estonianman
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nNeo
Apr 5 2016, 10:57 PM
Showing yet again why "trickle down" doesn't work.
Swallowed the propaganda , eh?
MEEK AND MILD
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nNeo

estonianman
Apr 5 2016, 11:06 PM
nNeo
Apr 5 2016, 10:57 PM
Showing yet again why "trickle down" doesn't work.
Swallowed the propaganda , eh?
LOL, no, I've been awake for the past 50 years. It's never worked.
“Strong people don’t need strong leaders.”
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Cruzula
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nNeo
Apr 5 2016, 11:10 PM
estonianman
Apr 5 2016, 11:06 PM
nNeo
Apr 5 2016, 10:57 PM
Showing yet again why "trickle down" doesn't work.
Swallowed the propaganda , eh?
LOL, no, I've been awake for the past 50 years. It's never worked.
^ An actual, free-thinking libertarian, and not an Ayn-Randist/Rothbardian idealogue. :)

"Merkel is a worse Chancellor than Hitler" ~ American Identitarian
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Attaburnsinhell

Gore Vidal
Apr 5 2016, 07:47 PM
Moreover:



Because the rich are getting extremely rich from socially useless activity, taxing them does not threaten economic productivity. The traditional trade-offs between production and taxes on wealth and income is that high taxes hurt productivity and, therefore, ultimately hurt the people redistributive programs are supposed to help. That claim has always been dubious, but based on Jacob’s analysis, the opposite might be true: taxing the 1% will provide revenue for social programs while also leveling out problematic sectors of the economy that provide no real value anyway.
It's quite true, as Ive been saying in here for years

When a family emasses multi-millions to billions, the smart money is just to sit on it, let it compound with interest, there's no reason to put it to work in any kind of productive business that entails any risk

An economy is measured by how money flows from hand to hand, not how it sits in an offshore account. The rich are holding back economic growth by hoarding capital
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estonianman
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nNeo
Apr 5 2016, 11:10 PM
estonianman
Apr 5 2016, 11:06 PM
nNeo
Apr 5 2016, 10:57 PM
Showing yet again why "trickle down" doesn't work.
Swallowed the propaganda , eh?
LOL, no, I've been awake for the past 50 years. It's never worked.
So, government is the answer.

Sorry for your loss.
Edited by estonianman, Apr 6 2016, 12:45 AM.
MEEK AND MILD
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Mr. Tik
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estonianman
Apr 6 2016, 12:41 AM
nNeo
Apr 5 2016, 11:10 PM
estonianman
Apr 5 2016, 11:06 PM

Quoting limited to 3 levels deep
LOL, no, I've been awake for the past 50 years. It's never worked.
So, government is the answer.

Sorry for you as your loss.
Man you make a lot of ASSumptions...Just because someone doesn't prescribe to your Austrian woo woo doesn't mean that they think "gubmint" is the panacea for everything
You may be a conservative republican..if you are pro life until you get your mistress knocked up
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estonianman
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Gore Vidal
Apr 5 2016, 11:15 PM
nNeo
Apr 5 2016, 11:10 PM
estonianman
Apr 5 2016, 11:06 PM

Quoting limited to 3 levels deep
LOL, no, I've been awake for the past 50 years. It's never worked.
^ An actual, free-thinking libertarian, and not an Ayn-Randist/Rothbardian idealogue. :)

Greg .. projection.

Edited by estonianman, Apr 6 2016, 12:50 AM.
MEEK AND MILD
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estonianman
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Adolph Hipster
Apr 6 2016, 12:45 AM
estonianman
Apr 6 2016, 12:41 AM
nNeo
Apr 5 2016, 11:10 PM

Quoting limited to 3 levels deep
So, government is the answer.

Sorry for you as your loss.
Man you make a lot of ASSumptions...Just because someone doesn't prescribe to your Austrian woo woo doesn't mean that they think "gubmint" is the panacea for everything
neo is off the deep end.

We'll see how he responds.
MEEK AND MILD
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Cruzula
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Adolph Hipster
Apr 6 2016, 12:45 AM
estonianman
Apr 6 2016, 12:41 AM
nNeo
Apr 5 2016, 11:10 PM

Quoting limited to 3 levels deep
So, government is the answer.

Sorry for you as your loss.
Man you make a lot of ASSumptions...Just because someone doesn't prescribe to your Austrian woo woo doesn't mean that they think "gubmint" is the panacea for everything
More like Austrian voodoo.


Actually, that's a disservice to real voodoo. At least real voodoo doesn't hinder anyone other than its own practitioners.
"Merkel is a worse Chancellor than Hitler" ~ American Identitarian
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Gizmolove
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Gizmolove
estonianman
Apr 5 2016, 11:06 PM
nNeo
Apr 5 2016, 10:57 PM
Showing yet again why "trickle down" doesn't work.
Swallowed the propaganda , eh?
"Trickle down" was artfully crafted to actually trickle up.
And, it doesn't take a mathematician or an economist to understand that.

To not understand that, only takes blinders.
When it comes to lying, cheating, or stealing, consult your DNC or GOP handbook.
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Mr. Tik
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estonianman
Apr 6 2016, 12:47 AM
Adolph Hipster
Apr 6 2016, 12:45 AM
estonianman
Apr 6 2016, 12:41 AM

Quoting limited to 3 levels deep
Man you make a lot of ASSumptions...Just because someone doesn't prescribe to your Austrian woo woo doesn't mean that they think "gubmint" is the panacea for everything
neo is off the deep end.

We'll see how he responds.
Nneo is one of the more grounded souls I know

Your trip is that you have a rather simplistic way of looking at things

Either one is a full on free market Austrian Minarchist..or one is Kim Jong-un

And thus..you take offense to anyone pointing out the many shades between these ends of the spectrum.
You may be a conservative republican..if you are pro life until you get your mistress knocked up
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Gizmolove
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Gizmolove
estonianman
Apr 6 2016, 12:41 AM
nNeo
Apr 5 2016, 11:10 PM
estonianman
Apr 5 2016, 11:06 PM

Quoting limited to 3 levels deep
LOL, no, I've been awake for the past 50 years. It's never worked.
So, government is the answer.

Sorry for your loss.
So yes. When the only purpose for your wealth is to grow more wealth at society's expense; then yes. That's the time for government to step in 'to provide for the common good', and to 'promote the general welfare'.

You can look it up in the American Constitution.
When it comes to lying, cheating, or stealing, consult your DNC or GOP handbook.
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